At a noon press conference, Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie introduced Andy
Reid as the new head coach of the team. It is believed that Reid agreed to a five-year, $5
million contract. He is making the jump from a position coach to head coach, without ever
holding a coordinator job. While people may wonder why he was selected, it was his
personality and strong interview that got him into the position.

The Eagles top three in the organization (Lurie, Banner and Modrak) were very impressed
with him during the interview last week. While many had believed the Reid left after his
interview, it was learned that he actually stayed in Philadelphia Friday, went back to
Green Bay later that day. On Saturday, Lurie chartered a flight to bring him and his
family back to Philadelphia, and set them up at the Rittenhouse Hotel. They received a
tour of the city. Meanwhile, Andy Reid had dinner at Luries house, and the next day
his agent, Bob LaMonte, came to Philadelphia to discuss the terms of a contract.

Andy Reid, who looks like a mix of Paul Holmgren and Mike Ditka, spent the last seven
years on Holmgrens staff at Green Bay. He was their quarterback coach last season.
He will try to continue the track record of assistants for Paul Holmgren as a head coach.
Some of the other coaches in the league who were assistants for Holmgren are Ray Rhodes
(now the head coach of the Packers, which was announced today), Jon Gruden, and Steve
Mariucci. "Theyve done it all, and I havent done it," said Reid last
week after his first interview with the Eagles. "Do I think I can do it? Sure. I have
a lot of confidence in myself."

This is the second time the Eagles were interested in Andy Reid. Last year, after
former offensive coordinator Jon Gruden took the head coaching position at Oakland, the
Eagles tried to get Reid as their new offensive coordinator. However, the Packers put the
supervisory tag on Reid to prevent him from going to any other team except for a head
coaching position. Now the Eagles will have him as their head coach.

"Im tremendously happy to be part of the Philadelphia Eagles," Reid
said, "This is the first step in putting the Eagles back on the map." Earlier in
the introduction, Laurie stated, " Today the turnaround begins." Reid will have
the task of trying to make a big turnaround. For the last two years, the Eagles have been
spiraling downward quickly. They went from a 10-6 record and a playoff berth, to 3-13 and
the No. 2 pick in the draft in 1998. It will be interesting to see where the Eagles are
headed in the next few months, as free agency season starts in a few weeks and the draft
in April.

This hiring falls away from the normal trend for the Eagles in selecting a coach.
Normally their head coach has been defensive-minded. Now they will have an
offensive-minded head coach. That is what they really need to turnaround an offense that
was dead last in most offensive categories during the season.

With the new coach in place, now it will be time for the Eagles to put together his
staff. It is rumored that the Eagles will keep special teams coach John Harbaugh,
defensive line coach Mike Trgovac, and tight ends coach Jim Bollman. Other possible
candidates for other positions on the staff are Dom Capers or Fritz Shurmur, current
defensive coordinator of the Packers, as defensive coordinator, and Nolan Cromwell,
currently on the Packers staff, as secondary coach. It will be interesting who the
offensive coordinator will be. Anyway you look at it, next season looks to be interesting.